Saturday, June 4, 2011

This is not fun. Nobody wants to still be thinking about leaking reactors. But; you really, really, need to know this.

This news release comes today from the official Japanese Public Television station, NHK.

I'm going to simply include all of it here, since there is a very high probability that in a few days, you won't be able to find the information easily; or perhaps not at all.

--------------------------------------------------------

Gov't didn't release radiation data after accident

The Japanese government has expressed regret for not disclosing some important results of the radiation monitoring conducted near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant soon after the accident.

The central and Fukushima prefectural governments collected the data to determine evacuation measures as well as food and water restrictions for residents.

A reading on March 12th, one day after the massive earthquake and tsunami hit the plant, shows that radioactive tellurium was detected 7 kilometers away. Tellurium is produced during the melting of nuclear fuel.

Three hours before the data was collected, the government expanded the radius of the evacuation area around the plant from 3 kilometers to 10 kilometers.

But the government's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported at a news conference several hours later that the nuclear fuel was intact.

The government also failed to disclose the high radiation levels in weeds 30 to 50 kilometers from the plant. On March 15th, 123 million becquerels of radioactive iodine-131 per kilogram were detected 38 kilometers northeast of the plant.

The nuclear safety agency says it deeply regrets not releasing the data.

Professor Yasuyuki Muramatsu of Gakushuin University says radioactive iodine has a high effect on children. He says that if the data had been released earlier, more measures could have been taken to protect them from exposure.

Saturday, June 04, 2011 15:27 +0900 (JST)

-----------------------------------------------------------------

There is hardly any comment needed; but I'll summarize. Yes, the Japanese government- and ours- knew; for certain; that a reactor had melted down completely; and exploded- one day after the tsunami-quake. That's the only way to get tellurium seven kilometers away. Nothing else could possibly have been responsible.

And- 123 MILLION becquerels of radio Iodine per kilo????? 38 kilometers NW? That's a number you only expect to find INSIDE a reactor core.

And- just like in all the disaster movies- they elected to NOT TELL THE PUBLIC. And the other world governments; with scientists all advising, and seeing what was going on from satellites I do assure you- went right along with it. Gosh, we don't want to scare anyone. Even though their kids are now playing in the spewed out guts of a nuclear reactor.

Apparently though, they believe in "Trickle Down Truth" - because they are quietly telling us now, and oh, yes, gosh, they are sorry about that.

You are really, really, going to want to remember this example in the future.

5 comments:

It was clear at the beginning that there was a meltdown and that the authorities were lying, wasn't it? And the Japanese have a way of delivery on unpleasant facts, goes somthing like the old joke whose punchline is "your grandmother is on the roof".

The energy crisis will hit here very hard, apart from the nuclear safety issue, because we can't stop our addiction to oil. Our government also sees it coming, but don't expect any action.

If we wake up now it could be a easier transition to post fossil fuels, but I'm afraid that wont happen.

Yes, my young cousin lives in Japan and is confident that the media there has been very honest. I hope for his sake he has at least taken up the japanese custom of eating tons of miso soup every day -- they think the miso and seaweed combination are very good at combating longterm radiation effects. But, considering he works managing a european cooking school, he's probably drowing himself in french food and red wine every day. *sigh*

well, your cousin maybe happier for not knowing...however you should also take solace knowing that red wine is THE right thing to take in a radiation infested place. Take it from someone who lived close-ish to Chernobil to have seen all the grownups gleefully indulging themselves in some extra Cabernet ;)from what i remember red wine is supposed to help move strontium out of your body - radioactive strontium being one of the major contamination factors.

about me-

It's a play on Grandpa, and green, as in environmentally aware, and Pa, as in ... Pa. An actual grandpa twice, and a Pa three times.

67, kids from two marriages, currently with a 10 year old zooming around the house. The house is as advertised, a very small log cabin in the woods. Tiny. It's like living on a yacht; no closet space, which is maybe half of why #1 went away.

I've been living "ultra" green for 39 years. Off the grid always, business too. Electricity from solar; and a little gas backup in winter. Composting toilet, heat with wood. Not vegetarians; hunter/gatherer/gardener. Not opposed to people living in cities.

Bookmark and Sharing Tools

NEW! Subscribe To The Little Blog...

Followers

Basic Green Practices in the Little House

1) Off the grid. 38 years. Solar electricity2) Limited power- house electricity has 4 golf cart batteries.3) Composting toilet. Outside. (eew, you do that indoors!?)4) No road to house. You gotta walk.5) No running water in house. Water pumped by wind.6) Showers solar heated; outdoors.7) Heat with wood. One stove in house-..8) Cook with wood 8 months, propane in summer9) Most of our fuelwood now is from trees we planted10) No refrigerator. 40 years, now. You don't need one either.11) Big garden.12) Eat locally when possible, not obsessive about it.13) No pesticide use ever, gardens or crops; not even organic (ok, except a little in the outhouse and the greenhouse...)14) Earth sheltered solar greenhouse (aren't they all solar??)15) Shut up about it. Nobody likes preaching.16. These are our choices- yours are yours.

Basic Practices On This Blog-

1) I do not have time to dig out all the references for you- if you doubt something I say here, google it immediately- and don't bug me if I'm off by a couple of degrees.2)"Eat compost and die" type comments will cheerfully be deleted. They won't even tick me off, I just feel pity. Really. So if I were you, I wouldn't bother. (Note to other bloggers- this requirement for basic politeness works- total # of mean comments deleted by me so far ~ 5; spammers deleted ~ 10)3) Long comments on posts are quite welcome; don't worry about it.4) I WILL try to answer questions, but it may take me a while to get to them.

5) I don't do memes. Sorry- fun, I know, but I really don't have the time.

6) I can't do email, either; I'm already drowning in the stuff from my other life; and I can't get into giving personal advice. If you want to contact me, just make a comment with your email address in it; I'll get back to you if I can.